LAHORE: The Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front (PIAF) has suggested the government to announce incentives for oversees Pakistanis to further boost up foreign remittances, besides enhancing investment in the country by Pakistani expatriates. The PIAF Chairman Faheemur Rehman Saigol said that remittances last month came in at $2.21 billion and this figure, while an improvement from last month’s $2.09 billion, was significantly lower than market expectations of $2.4-2.5 billion. However, on a month-on-month basis, remittances rose by 5.3% but they declined by 11.24% compared to last year, when remittances stood at $2.49 billion. The market was expecting remittances to improve following a massive crackdown on exchange rate manipulation in the open market, and the subsequent reduction in the premium between the open and interbank markets. The PIAF Chairman said that Pakistanis abroad may choose to send remittances through banks, in which case they would become part of the interbank market, or exchange companies, which are part of the open market. Typically, the difference in the rates of the two markets is not very large; under the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it cannot exceed 1.25% for more than five days. Our Correspondent
